Korth PRS Two-Tone Blue & Black .45 ACP

Most 1911s in .45 ACP wear blued or stainless and call it a day. This Korth PRS does something else entirely. The slide carries a heat-blued finish that runs from sapphire across the flats into deep indigo and violet, the kind of color that shifts every time you turn it under light. Against the matte black frame, the contrast is hard to ignore. Korth builds these in Germany, the same shop better known for its high-dollar revolvers, and the PRS line is where that level of finish work gets applied to John Browning's old design.

Look closely at the slide serrations. They are not the usual cut grooves but raised, rounded teardrop dimples in staggered rows, polished bright against the surrounding blue. The slide flat is laser-etched with the Korth script, and the frame dust cover reads Waffenfabrik Korth Germany. The grips are smooth ivory-tone panels, clean and unadorned, set off by a black checkered mainspring housing and frontstrap. The trigger is a skeletonized three-hole match unit, and the hammer is a matching skeletonized Commander style.

The barrel runs 4.25 inches, putting this in Commander-length territory rather than full Government. That makes for a slightly handier package without giving up much sight radius. Sights are a fixed front with an adjustable rear, dovetailed into the blued slide. Controls are a beavertail grip safety, an extended thumb safety, and a flat checkered magazine release.

This one comes as a complete set. The fitted Korth wooden presentation case holds the pistol, a spare magazine, and the factory safety manual in German and English, all seated in cut black foam under the lid bearing the red Korth logo.

Korth ships these in small numbers, and the rainbow-blued slide is the kind of finish that does not photograph the same way twice. For a collector who wants a 1911 that nobody else at the range is carrying, this is the piece.